Madness
by Athena SFM
Summary: "Neji." His voice sounded macabre, even to himself. It was her, definitely. NejiHina. Angst. Drama. One-shot. Complete.


**A/N:** It might be quite confusing to read but everything was on purpose.

_**NejiHina.**__ Angst. Drama. One-shot. Complete._

_**Disclaimer:**_ I can't do it... *sobs* with all these feels. No, *sobs* I don't own Naruto.

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_"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."_

_- Anaïs Nin_

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"What's your name?"

She was a lost cause. Skin clear of colors akin to that of a pristine wan eyes and lips so sallow it reminds him of her, whom his jaundiced pride, one he has acquired on his childhood, had hurt.

It was choking him. It unnerved him.

_Neji-niisan._

He can hear her.

"What's your name?"

The girl with the ebony-black hair, strands of silk that bedazzles him, even in the darkness of the surrounding, iterated. Her voice was soft, _so soft_, she sounds exactly like the one he won't be able to hear anymore.

_Don't cry._

I won't.

"Neji." His voice sounded macabre, even to himself.

The girl, who was now making strangled sobs, hold onto his pants. "Neji-san, s-save m-me. P-ple-please."

_Please, take care of Hanabi for me._

He would.

A B-class mission on the Hidden Village of Willows brought him here. A land hidden by hordes of green, after whom its name was taken, and surrounded by crystal clear lakes is bewitching. A peregrine beauty of an extrinsic territory.

_Father too._

He have to.

It was past midnight. Hefty, cinereous clouds are blocking the illumination of the full moon. She continued sobbing. He won't move a muscle.

_I love you, niisan. Tell imouto and Father that too._

He can.

The tempest of the witching hour passed through. Sweeping the cause of murk from above with its tail, alas, the moon shone. The luminescence of the night's orb fell on the woman's face, a canvass absent of hue.

He gasped.

Her yellow eyes are that of a child. Innocent, round, bright, big and _hers_.

_I'm not in pain._

He can't be sure.

"What happened to you?"

She stopped sobbing to look up to him. Flashes of emotion danced on her face like a moth on flame, only there for a fleeting moment before it disappears and never remembered after. Fear, pain, agitation, anxiety, relief and finally, happiness. She was like _her_ in so many ways.

It unsettles him.

_Don't look like that._

Tell me how.

"I-I was a-a-attacked! My family w-was a-attacked! Th-theere w-were a lot of th-them! H-high level shi-shinobis! I can't d-do s-somet-thing about t-them. I-I'm only a g-genin." She cries. "O-our v-village is ru-ruined."

It was. The Hidden Village of Willows was attacked at the dead of the night by two ninja villages. They were outnumbered and outpowered. It was their demise. When the message reached Konoha, it was over. They have met their end.

_Neji-niisan, be strong._

I am strong.

"Are you from K-konoha, N-Neji-san? D-Do you know i-if there are s-survivors?"

"A few."

She wailed. It was a cry of anguish, a cry of despair.

_Can you tell Kiba-kun and Shino-kun to take care of Kurenai-sensei? and themselves too?_

I will.

He watched her cry. He watched her pour out her pain. He watched her. Like how he used to watch _her_ heart out. One thing he learned from _her_ is that to allow people to mourn for their broken hearts.

Then, she stood and faced him with a countenance full of determination. "I will not fall, I will not deter."

"Neji-san, I will never go back on my word, because that too is my nindo, my ninja way!"

_'Neji-niisan, I will never go back on my word, because that too is my nindo, my ninja way!'_

It was her.

"What's your name?" It was his turn to know.

"The color of my eyes, I am Taiyou."

_Neji-niisan, please, find someone to protect other than me._

I found it.

"What do you want to do now?"

She hesitated before answering. "C-can I come with y-you, Neji-san?"

"One condition." Her face lit up.

Like the way he remembers she does.

_Please, guide Hanabi. She can't lose another one in her life._

I promise.

"From now on, you are Hinata." He turned his back around her.

"I accept."

_I love you Neji-niisan, goodbye._

I love you Hinata, see you.

"From now on, I am your Neji-niisan."


End file.
